Towelket One More Time Fury Review

(Warning: This game contains content that may not be suitable for younger viewers and the easily disturbed. Please refer to the warnings at the bottom of → This Page ← Keep in mind that some of these topics will be mentioned in this review)

Towelket One More Time Fury is the sixth entry in the Towelket series, released sometime in 2010 between the release of Towelket 4 and Towelket 5: Gaugau's Bride. There is very little information about this game, even its exact publication date is currently unknown. Towelket Fury's entire existence is a bit strange, as it was never technically an "official" entry in the series.

There were three games released under the title "Towelket 5": Towelket 5 Classic, a short demo that was supposed to be a direct sequel to Towelket 4. Towelket Fury, a game that was completed but quickly deleted after its release. And Towelket 5: Gaugau's Bride, which is usually considered the "official" Towelket 5. There's been a lot of rumors and speculation about the existence of this game, often regarding the author's reason for killing it off so quickly despite it being a finished product. But I haven't found an actual source for any of these claims, so I won't be getting into all that.

But back to the game itself. The story begins with Paripariume and her sister Pucchi visiting her late husband's grave to announce that their newborns have been delivered safely. But just as Pucchi is about to leave, a flock of sadistic birds attack the babies and Paripariume, killing her and pushing one of the twins off a cliff. As her last wish, she asks Pucchi to save the remaining child and leave her behind. Years later, the baby grows up to be a boy named Kachil (or Kachiru), who attends school with his two friends, Roppenchu and Ponpe. Tonight is the night of the Constellation Festival, and he must decide which girl to spend the night with.

Towelket Fury is definitely one of the weirder games in the series. It's generally considered one of the most disturbing games in the series, and for good reason. This game is practically built on its taboo subject matter, which is only restrained by Towelket's usual cute pixel art style. In my opinion, what sets this game apart from something like Towelket 6 is that it actually uses its dark themes to tell its story, rather than to shock the viewer for a moment and then move on, regardless of how much sense it makes in the context of the narrative. And that's not to say that this game has some kind of profound message - that's still up for debate, but it does have a story to tell for those willing to stomach its uncomfortable content. The story of Towelket Fury is not incredibly complex. I never found any secret hidden layers that ever went deeper than what was presented to me. It is a story that is misanthropic in nature and perverts the classic idea of a cosmic fate that links people together. I don't think it's one of Kanao's greatest works of all time, but it's a solid story, and I found it incredibly difficult to find anything about it that I outright disliked.

The gameplay is probably the weakest aspect of Towelket Fury. The combat has a quirky little gimmick where the enemies are actually weak to certain types of weapons you use. All of your characters must be equipped with the right type of weapon in order to inflict significant damage on the enemy. But the actual execution of this concept is a bit broken. In most cases, it's actually easier to just let yourself die so you can go back and equip the right items than it is to just try to power through. I suppose this was an attempt to make the game harder, but really it's just frustrating. The game does throw you a bone sometimes in the form of an NPC named Aburaneko, she will often appear before a boss fight and tell you their weakness and what type of attack they use. Though she isn’t always reliable. There are a few times where she won’t appear so you’ll have to find a guide or go through some painful trial and error. There was also an instance where she gave out wrong information or was completely bugged out, making it impossible to interact with her.

There are also black lockers spread out throughout the maps. They’re completely irrelevant to the story and seem to exist as a place where you can grind and collect items in case you get stuck. They're useful for sections where you would otherwise have no access to the items you want.

The characters in this game were alright. Everyone in the story plays the roles they're supposed to play and it works just fine. Personally, I wish the cast was just a liiiittle more interesting. Characters like Agochu and Nyanyamo were interesting enough, but I feel like everyone else could have been a little more. They're not so bland as to make me completely uninterested in their struggles, but I feel like the game neglects to show us who these characters were before the whole conflict kicks in. This is most evident in the choice you have at the beginning of the game, where you have to decide which of Kachil's friends you want to spend time with during Constellation Day. No matter who you choose, although there are some subtle differences in their lines, I felt like they were practically the same character in both scenarios. Maybe the story could use a little more fluff, there are a lot of informed time skips in this game and maybe we could have had less of those for the sake of establishing the characters more, even if it doesn't directly affect the story itself. But it seems like this game prefers to get right to the point, which I don't have much of a problem with either.

Overall, I think Towelket Fury is a pretty solid Towelket game, and the determining factor as to whether or not you'll enjoy it depends mostly on how well you can handle its content and how you approach said content in general. Some might call it over the top or unnecessary, but it's really just a matter of whether or not you believe there should be a limit to how dark fictional stories can get. Is it inherently taboo to include disturbing themes in a story? Does dark fiction have to justify itself in order to exist? That depends on the person. Personally, I judge it the same way I judge everything else. If there's a story to be told, I don't see a problem with trying to tell it. This game has an interesting story and I think it tells it well. At the very least, I can't say that this game isn't memorable.

I rate this game 4/5 Towels